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ERA’s biggest pivot: Bespoke Post, from QR codes to “Mancessories”

Entrepreneurs Roundtable Accelerator (ERA) is one of the newest startup incubators to launch in New York City. 10 early-stage startups participated in ERA’s inaugural summer 2011 program, which kicked off at its Times Square offices on June 6th and culminates today at Stern Business School with the program’s first Demo Day.

Steven Szaronos and Rishi Prahbu were first accepted into ERA’s accelerator program with their startup Nabfly, a simple mobile tagging platform for QR codes that lets people scan posters with their phones and engage with a brand through a native application. The service made it easy to remember and interact with the cool things you see walking around a city. But even though the guys had customers, they decided to dramatically change their business plan over their 3-months in New York City.

Today, Bespoke Post is making its public debut and shaking up online shopping for men. Until now, the team has kept its business entirely under wraps. Szaronos and Prahbu have built a curated subscription service for products men want.

Their members receive a recurring personalized package filled with guy stuff: like a skinny tie, a grill set, fine wine, or a slab of bacon. It’s very similar to the recently launched GuyHaus, which auto-ships more everyday items like toiletries and socks to American boys. Bespoke Post is focusing on food and booze, home and office and “mancessories”.

Szaronos says most men “hate shopping,” and while there are resources out there like Gilt and newsletters, those processes are strenuous. Bespoke Post puts the discovery process for men’s goods in autopilot. The company is targeting 13 million guys between the ages of 25 and 45 who like nice things but think the current shopping experience is broken. Boxes start at $40 per box and will be a compilation of products from publishers of men’s magazines and popular brand offerings. Initial curators include teams from Target and Niemen Marcus.

The team is raising a $500K seed round to scale operations and “litter the United States in awesome.”